Entertainment

Apple Briefly Approves DOS Emulator for iPhone and iPad

A new iOS app called iDOS runs programs originally written for the old MicrosoftDOS operating system from the 80s and 90s, including thousands of classic PC games and early versions of Microsoft Windows. The powerful app was approved by Apple late Monday night but it was just pulled from the app store — tragic, since it's a vision of just how awesome a DOS emulator could be on the iPhone or iPad.

iDOS is based on DOSBox, a very popular DOS emulator for Windows, Mac and Linux computers. While there are many potential uses for it, the most popular use is for playing classic computer games like Wing Commander or King's Quest that don't run on today's computers. The legality or illegality of downloading these old games that are no longer for sale is a bit sticky, and DOS itself is the property of Microsoft, hence our surprise that the app was approved to begin with.

Apple has been wary of approving emulators for admission into the App Store, but it recently eased up its approval requirements. In some cases emulators have been approved with no problems, but we can't say the same for other attempts such as a few classic Nintendo emulators.

The app is very short on included programs or tutorials. It simply comes with playable versions of Ms. Pac Man and Dig Dug. If you want to install other applications or games, you'll have to figure out how to do it on your own — but that's all part of the old-school DOS spirit, isn't it? Still, the lack of some basics such as the EDIT or PRINT commands in the command line ensures that you'll spend some extra time getting set up as compared to one of the desktop versions of DOSBox.

But otherwise it's a beautifully designed app, especially on the iPad, which surrounds the DOS emulation with delightful graphics depicting retro computer gear and the like. Customizable on-screen keypads are ideal for tailoring your experience to specific programs and games, you can force programs to run in their original 4:3 aspect ratio, and with a little technical know-how you can get most any old program working.

Samuel Axon is a digital content producer in New York City. He has worked as an editor at Engadget, Mashable and the Joystiq network, and currently leads content strategy as Editorial Director at Sprout Social.

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